Monday, August 31, 2009

Good morning, scrappers! YOU DID IT! We are officially past the halfway mark now. Ok, so go get your lovely picture (you know, the one you took in week 2 of your room, not the one of David Duchovny in a speedo). Bring it to your space. See a difference? I'm hoping this will get you through to the end - look at how far you've come and how much you've accomplished! And if your actual space and your photo look the same....well, time to get started, right?

This week we're going to focus on ink pads and embossing supplies. These little suckers are tricky to store because we tend to have a LOT of them, and they're not easy to stack. So let's get down to ideas.

Thankfully, there are a lot of products on the market specifically designed to hold ink pads. That will make our reorganization a little easier. Here's what I've come across in my search for ideas - remember, the links I posted are intended to give you a visual idea of what it is I'm talking about - it doesn't mean I endorse the product or the store.

Ebay is also a great source - items vary daily, and there are a lot of reputable sellers on there.

I got my storage system off of Ebay years ago - I've made sure it had a home in my space because it's just awesome. It holds all my larger ink pads on the sides, and the entire unit turns. On the top, I have my liquid inks as well as my smaller inkpads. The unit sits enclosed in a cabinet - so just because you don't have the counter space, don't rule out a desktop spinner! And as a bonus - my kids can't get near this thing. I can only imagine the damage they could do.

For my smaller ink pads, like the Cats Eye, I have some small bins (they're just drawers from another unit, but they were the perfect size) that sit on top of the holder and the inks are just tossed in there. Not as neat and pretty as my larger pads, but it doesn't take me much time to find what I need in there.

Keep the powder in salt and pepper shakers or spice jars, and store on spice racks.

In clear plastic shoeboxes

In a multi-drawer chest

Photo storage boxes

Ikea Fira drawers

Crop In Style cubes

In boxes or bins

I don't have a lot of embossing supplies - I emboss every now and then, but I tend to stick with the basics. I've been able to keep everything in a wooden planter box that sits on a shelf in my room. It's out of the way, and when I need anything embossing-related, I just grab my box. If someone has a lot of supplies and has come across a good way to store them, I'd love to see photos!

In closing, I want to add my 10 rules for organizing. I'm going to post these at the end of every challenge, because I think they are very, very important. I want you to keep them in mind as you tackle each of these projects - they will make your life easier and the task less daunting.

1. Label your containers.

2. Be consistent in your methods.

3. Don't be too specific - your search for your items within your space should be short and simple.

4. Your organizational method should be easy to take out AND put away.

5. When organizing, break any large piles into smaller groupings. Have a 2 foot tall stack of paper to sort? Do it in 1" high chunks, it will be easier to handle mentally.

6. If it's something that you use on almost every project, then keep it within reach of your main scrap area.

7. Don't stress your containers. Get a new system or purge your stash.

9. Repurpose when you can - almost anything can be painted or covered in paper/fabric.

10. THE GOLDEN RULE - FIRST choose an organizational method, THEN choose a container that fits your space and style. Always shop for containers with a list in hand - a beautiful container is simply clutter if it doesn't have a dedicated purpose in your space!

Your ink pads are now beautifully organized and back in your space. Congratulations! Summer's just about done, so go get in one last run through the sprinkler and I'll see you back here for Week 16.

Monday, August 24, 2009

Hellooooo, ladies! Welcome to Week 14, this week will be a cakewalk compared to the past few, so it'll be a good time to play catch up. We're going to focus on your cropping supplies this week. This Challenge will be short and sweet.

I admit that I don't go to crops nearly as often as I like, so I don't have a detailed system for organizing crop gear. I do know 2 things, however:

1. If you crop a LOT - store your tools in a portable caddy that can also be used on your desktop, or invest in a second set of basic tools that can be left in your crop bag at all times.

And...

2. Don't bring your entire scrap space with you. Like ANY trip, you need to plan what you pack. I only bring page kits with me - just the basics and the photos that go with them. I take a few days to put these together - if you plan enough of them, all you have to do at crop time is grab a few bags and you're ready to go! I also like to catch up on journaling during crops - I have a few themed albums (especially photo album scrapbooks) set aside for this purpose alone, and have found that crops are a GREAT way to catch up on any Project 365 albums as well.

I did come across some interesting links on how other scrappers pack for crops - check them out and see if any of their tips might work for you!

Monday, August 17, 2009

Calling all organizers! Good morning! Are you ready for a new Challenge? This is going to be another big week - we're going to corral all of your stamps. And I mean ALL of them. The key with stamps is that if you don't remember what you have, you likely won't use them. So you need to either have them stored in a way that you can see them, or have a good inventory system that you can reference. I'm going to cover foam, acrylic, rubber - images and alphabets, mounted and unmounted, as well as some suggestions for inventories.

The first order to organizing is to see what you have, what you want to keep, and how you'd like to store them. Go get your stamp box - yes, the one that's been sitting in the hallway for months now and has been annoying the daylights out of your husband. This is a great time to purge if you haven't done so already - the less product you have, the fewer things to sort! Now see what's left in your box. How's it working for you (gosh, Dr. Phil has SUCH great lines)? Are you ok with having several different storage methods for your stamps, or do you want them all in one place? Are you ok with wood mounts, or would you prefer them all to be cling? Do you go for stamps by theme or by manufacturer? Are there some stamps you LOVE but are a hassle to use - why is that? And what can fix that problem? Finally, stamp sets - do you want to keep these together or break them up? Start jotting down some answers to these questions (ie, keep wood mounted stamps as-is, separate alphas from non-alphas, keep sets together) - when you start looking at storage options, you're going to need to accommodate ALL of these categories you come up with. Which may mean only ONE storage method if you have a few stamps, or multiple if you have a good variety.

There is one option I'm going to mention at this point, which I know a lot of scrappers and stampers have done, and that's going to a complete cling system. Yes, that means un-mounting your wood stamps. Now, before I get hate mail, I LOVE wood stamps. I love how they sit on a shelf, I love the feel in my hand, but I DON'T love how they take up so much room and it's so hard to find what I'm looking for! I know a lot of you are in the same boat. So, about 5 years ago, I un-mounted ALL my wood stamps and put them onto EZ Mount (which has one side sticky to hold the rubber, the other side is cling like on the back of acrylic stamps). I have not once regretted my decision. I am now able to store ALL my stamps in one location, and it put it short - that rocks! Un-mounting is easy to do - here are a few tutorials in case you want to read some more before making a decision:

I have a pretty good number of stamps, but I was able to unmount them all in a weekend. It really doesn't take a lot of time (even though it looks daunting!) - great results for a small effort!

Now you have a good idea in your head of your inventory, let's talk storage. I'm going to post quite a few options in each category - mounted, acrylic (this includes unmounted rubber as well - anything that clings (except toddlers and needy husbands)), and foam. Check them out, and find which one(s) will work best for you. Please note that the links I posted are intended to give you a visual idea of what it is I'm talking about - it doesn't mean I endorse the product or the store.

So, there you go - figure out which solution will work best for YOUR stash and YOUR space, then start dividing those stamps into the proper locations. I wouldn't put them away just yet tho - you're going to want to do an inventory of them, which I'll get to in a minute. First, I want to show you my storage system, which I've been thrilled with. I have 2 systems for ALL my stamps - they're either alpha stamps or non-alpha stamps. For my NON-alpha stamps, I use the document boxes from Target. They take up the top shelf on 4 of my cabinets - I'm on the taller side so I can reach them fairly easily. They're all labeled on the spine, from 1 to 24 (some numbers have multiple boxes):

Inside, I am able to cling my stamps to both surfaces of the box. The boxes are also thick enough to accommodate foam stamps WITH acrylics on both sides! I recently found out my wood-mounted Unity stamps will also fit well, without having to unmount them. I have one theme per box, and each theme gets a number as well. So 1 is florals, 2 is punctuation, 3 is boy, 4 is winter/Christmas, 5 is travel, 6 is journaling....you get the idea.

I label the outside as well, so it's easy to see what theme each box holds.

Now, to keep track of what I have (especially since I break up some sets), I came up with an inventory system on a Rolodex. I like the Rolodex because it's easy to take out cards - if I purge a stamp, or if I want to toss in a card into a page kit to remember to use that stamp with that set. Very easy to put back, and very easy to flip through. Each of my categories is in the Rolodex, numbered from 1 to 24, and I have the stamped image of that stamp from that box in the Rolodex. I either stamp the image, or cut it out from product packaging and tape it to the Rolodex page. Each image is labeled with the manufacturer and set name. So under tab 1 (Florals) in my Rolodex, I have a cut out of an Autumn Leaves floral stamp from the package and taped on there, and the actual stamp is in my #1 document box on my shelf (also labeled "Floral"). When I need to find a daisy stamp, I flip through my Rolodex to see if I have one I want. If it's there, I grab the #1 box(es) and get it. If not, I log on to 2Peas and buy one. ;)

I use this same inventory system for my alpha stamps, with a second Rolodex:

Now, I store my alpha stamps a little bit differently. My main method is using CD cases - not the slimline, the ones with the black insert that you can pop out. I found that about 85% of my alphas will fit into a CD case. For the ones that are larger, I just use a document box and store them on a shelf below my non-alpha stamps.

The CD cases are numbered, starting at 1. They are not numerical in my Rolodex - I found that really doesn't matter, since I just flip through there until I find the set I want. Then I see the number assigned to that set and go to my CD storage boxes, which are up on a shelf. All the CD cases in those boxes are labeled on the spine for easy viewing and ARE in numerical order:

The boxes themselves are also labeled to show which sets they contain, which makes it easy to grab the right box off the shelf!

That's my system, in a nutshell. The only thing I left off is my stamping wheels - I just keep those in a drawer with my stamp cleaner and my acrylic mounting blocks. I have the images inventoried in my Rolodex under the correct theme, however - I just make sure that it's labeled as a wheel.

I want to share one more non-traditional method for storing sets, which I used to do before breaking mine up. I found these awesome garden hangers at Hobby Lobby in their summer clearance. They are great for holding the Studio G sets and sets that come in tins (like Gelatins). Another option on the Studio G sets - I know a lot of Peas store them in baseball card pages in a binder or they fit perfect in an ATC holder. Brilliant!

I know there are a gazillion stamp storage options out there, so if you've found one that works for you - please post it!

In closing, I want to add my 10 rules for organizing. I'm going to post these at the end of every challenge, because I think that they are very, very important. I want you to keep them in mind as you tackle each of these projects - they will make your life easier and the task less daunting.

1. Label your containers.2. Be consistent in your methods.3. Don't be too specific - your search for your items within your space should be short and simple.4. Your organizational method should be easy to take out AND put away.5. When organizing, break any large piles into smaller groupings. Have a 2 foot tall stack of paper to sort? Do it in 1" high chunks, it will be easier to handle mentally.6. If it's something that you use on almost every project, then keep it within reach of your main scrap area.7. Don't stress your containers. Get a new system or purge your stash.8. For most items, product packaging adds bulk. Toss it. One exception - rub ons.9. Repurpose when you can - almost anything can be painted or covered in paper/fabric.10. THE GOLDEN RULE - FIRST choose an organizational method, THEN choose a container that fits your space and style. Always shop for containers with a list in hand - a beautiful container is simply clutter if it doesn't have a dedicated purpose in your space!

Your lovely stamps are now all organized. Whoo hoo! Now go take care of all those chores you put off while surfing websites, and come join me for Week 14 next week, when a-cropping we will go!

Monday, August 10, 2009

Good Monday morning (if there is such a thing!) - everybody ready to play? Today we're going to tackle another toughie - ribbons and fibers. You may not be able to complete this Challenge in one week. And again, that's ok - as long as you have a system in place in your head and know where you're going, that's what counts!

So let's cut the chit-chat and get started on HOW to organize your ribbon. You can organize by type (ie, grosgrain vs sheer), width, color, or by packaging. Once again, follow your scrapping cues here. You can also mix and match - it's easy to group all your red grosgrain ribbon together, for example.

Now let's take a look at WHAT to store your ribbon in. I'm not a big fan of ribbon packaging - I've found that once you take it out of it's neat and pretty little package, it never goes back in quite the same. So I immediately pull off all my ribbon - off cards, spools, bobbins, you name it. It brings me happiness to see a puddle of fibers. Aaaahhhh. Anyways, I have found oodles and oodles of ways to store ribbons. One of these methods surely will work for you and your stash! Please note that the links I posted are intended to give you a visual idea of what it is I'm talking about - it doesn't mean I endorse the product or the store.

Now, if you couldn't find a working solution in one of those links, you're helpless. Seriously. Just chuck your ribbon out the window and have it done with. Just kidding - send it to me instead!

My solutions have evolved over the years. I first started out with ribbon in the Cropper Hopper embellishment boxes. Problem is, if your ribbon is over 3/8" wide, it won't fit.

So, I had my wider ribbon on ribbon cards from Magistical Memories in a large ArtBin box.

I loved this system, but the Artbin boxes take up a LOT of room. My third system was on dowels on a pegboard. I took everything off the spools when I reorganized and used my pegboard rack for tape instead:

I was really getting tired of looking in 3 places for one ribbon. So I combined them all into the card system, but using clear plastic shoeboxes instead. One color per box, it's sooo easy to find what I'm looking for:Some of the cards are from Magistical Memories - the others I just made myself from cheap chipboard I've hoarded. Each ribbon is secured with a glass-head straight pin.

So that's how all my "true" ribbon is stored. For fibers and floss, I use the floss cards in floss boxes, divided up into multiple colors per box:

My felt "ribbons" that come on rolls (or that can be made into rolls!) is stored in a Pottery Barn craft center. I don't know if they still make these, I purchase mine at an outlet. My paper "frills" are in here too:

I keep all my colored twine in rolls in a metal basket. Basket is from Hobby Lobby.

My Scrappers Floss is in a basket as well - also from Hobby Lobby (yes, I love their baskets - I like even more that they frequently have them on sale for half off!).

One more basket (do you see a theme here?) - my Magic Mesh and the like also go in my ribbon cabinet. If I forget to put away one of my baskets, no big deal, they're just as pretty sitting on the countertop.

In closing, I want to add my 10 rules for organizing. I'm going to post these at the end of every challenge, because I think they are very, very important. I want you to keep them in mind as you tackle each of these projects - they will make your life easier and the task less daunting.

1. Label your containers.2. Be consistent in your methods.3. Don't be too specific - your search for your items within your space should be short and simple.4. Your organizational method should be easy to take out AND put away.5. When organizing, break any large piles into smaller groupings. Have a 2 foot tall stack of paper to sort? Do it in 1" high chunks, it will be easier to handle mentally.6. If it's something that you use on almost every project, then keep it within reach of your main scrap area.7. Don't stress your containers. Get a new system or purge your stash.8. For most items, product packaging adds bulk. Toss it. One exception - rub ons.9. Repurpose when you can - almost anything can be painted or covered in paper/fabric.10. THE GOLDEN RULE - FIRST choose an organizational method, THEN choose a container that fits your space and style. Always shop for containers with a list in hand - a beautiful container is simply clutter if it doesn't have a dedicated purpose in your space!

Your ribbons are no longer a tangled mess - you did it! Go get some cheesecake (the good kind with the gooey strawberry sauce) and get ready for next week - it's stamping time!

Monday, August 3, 2009

Hellllllooooo, scrappers! Welcome to Week 11 - now that we have your alphas all neat and tidy, we're going to work on getting those NON-ALPHA stickers and rub ons organized. This Challenge should be pretty quick and easy - even for those of you who are swimming in stickers.

First off - this is a great, and I repeat - GREAT time to purge. I'm sure you have some Sandylion sheets from 1984 lying in your stash somewhere. Give them to the kids, let them decorate the dog. Are you really going to use those fuzzy "Princess" stickers on ANY of your layouts for your 4 boys? Give them to a friend. Remember - the fewer stickers you have, the fewer you'll have to put away (or sort through looking for the right one!).

Once again, I'm combining stickers and rub ons in the same category. Because I feel they're essentially the same thing. There's only a few ways to organize them - by theme, manufacturer, or design element (ie, accents, journaling, borders, etc). Go with how your creative mind works when you scrap - do you look for a journaling box or a princess crown? Once you figure that out, then you can move on to WHAT to store them in.

Below is my link list for the week of storage options for stickers and rub ons. Please note that the links I posted are intended to give you a visual idea of what it is I'm talking about - it doesn't mean I endorse the product or the store.

Whichever method you go with - make sure it accommodates your current AND future stash, makes sense with your scrapping methods, protects your stickers and rub ons, and is easy to flip through to get what you want!

My solution has worked for me for about 10 years now, I haven't had a need to change it. I use good ol' PSBs, with my stickers and rub-ons divided up by themes - such as boy, baby, nature, celebrations, etc. If there is no true theme, then I file it under accents. I just keep the PSBs in a cabinet with the spines labeled with small tags. The interiors are further divided up by labeled dividers if I have more than one theme in a binder.

In closing, I want to add my 10 rules for organizing. I'm going to post these at the end of every challenge, because I think they are very, very important. I want you to keep them in mind as you tackle each of these projects - they will make your life easier and the task less daunting.

1. Label your containers.

2. Be consistent in your methods.

3. Don't be too specific - your search for your items within your space should be short and simple.

4. Your organizational method should be easy to take out AND put away.

5. When organizing, break any large piles into smaller groupings. Have a 2 foot tall stack of paper to sort? Do it in 1" high chunks, it will be easier to handle mentally.

6. If it's something that you use on almost every project, then keep it within reach of your main scrap area.

7. Don't stress your containers. Get a new system or purge your stash.

9. Repurpose when you can - almost anything can be painted or covered in paper/fabric.

10. THE GOLDEN RULE - FIRST choose an organizational method, THEN choose a container that fits your space and style. Always shop for containers with a list in hand - a beautiful container is simply clutter if it doesn't have a dedicated purpose in your space!

Your sticker and rub on collection is no longer in a heap on the floor. Yay! Now go de-sticker the poor dog and I'll see you back here for Week 12, it's ribbon time!